Chapter 143: 143. Chapter 141: Arrogant Jin

143. Chapter 141: Arrogant Jin

"Lead the way." Tou Jie glanced at Ding Huan, her tone icy.

Too many people came to flatter her; she had no need to care.

Ding Huan quickly led Tou Jie and the others out of the marketplace, then deeper into the wilderness.

"Boy, stop."

Tou Jie stared coldly at Ding Huan.

Ding Huan stopped. This spot—a dried-up pond—was perfect for burying these five.

"Beyond here lies the Wasteland Forest. Are you leading us here to die?"

Tou Jie's voice carried murderous intent.

Clearly, if Ding Huan's answer displeased her, she would kill him.

Ding Huan raised his hand and removed his mask and sunglasses:

"You're right. This is where I'm burying you."

He didn't need to disguise himself upon returning—just invisibility would do.

"It's you?"

The moment Tou Jie saw Ding Huan, she recognized him—and flew into rage.

Before she could signal her four subordinates, Ding Huan unleashed four wind blades.

Their heads rolled off instantly; they hadn't even drawn their weapons.

Enraged, Tou Jie stared blankly at Ding Huan. Was this a Foundation Establishment expert?

All her earlier fury vanished in an instant.

"What do you want?"

Tou Jie instinctively stepped back several paces.

Ding Huan looked at Tou Jie with mockery in his tone:

"I didn't provoke you. Why did you come after me?"

"I was blind. I'll compensate you."

All her previous arrogance seemed to have been fake.

"Do you know why I'm not killing you?"

Ding Huan suddenly produced a long blade, making Tou Jie's scalp tingle.

She had seen nothing—no blade on him before, and no disappearance of the weapon either.

"I asked you a question. Are you deaf?"

Ding Huan's tone grew impatient.

"No, no… You must be asking where I hid my money?"

Regret couldn't change what had happened. At this moment, Tou Jie only wanted to leave quickly.

"Then why aren't you speaking?"

Ding Huan snorted in displeasure.

"Yes, my money is all at the Bai Shang Marketplace Bank in Sìxiàng City." Tou Jie answered swiftly.

Sìxiàng City? Ding Huan had never heard of the place before.

Knowing Ding Huan had just arrived on Sìxiàng Star Continent, she hurried to explain:

"Sìxiàng City is the largest city on Sìxiàng Star Continent. Half the continent's population gathers here. Every time people arrive from other planets, they converge on Sìxiàng City."

Ding Huan frowned:

"Then why did you send me to Xiǎoxingjiao Marketplace?"

Tou Jie dared not mock; her tone turned respectful:

"Usually, newcomers are sent to various star-land outposts. This month, it just happened to be Xiǎoxingjiao."

Ding Huan understood: apparently, newcomers like him weren't worthy of entering Sìxiàng City.

"How do I withdraw your money?"

The moment Ding Huan asked this, even Bai Chi would know he intended to kill her.

She hurried to say:

"I work for the Zuǒ Shí Clan. You can't kill me—if you do, the Zuǒ Shí Clan will investigate."

Ding Huan had already guessed that such an arrogant woman profiting from the Star Square must have backing.

Seeing she refused to speak, he stopped asking and cleanly slashed a wind blade.

Though arrogant in the Star Square, Tou Jie's strength barely matched a Genus-level martial artist—she couldn't even fight back against Ding Huan.

On the five bodies, Ding Huan found thirteen thousand purple gold coins, and on Tou Jie, a deposit token.

In addition, twelve crystal stones.

The deposit token resembled an identity card, except it was anonymous.

After reading the instructions on the back of the token, Ding Huan understood.

All deposit tokens on Sìxiàng Star Continent were anonymous. Banks only verified authenticity to release funds.

No need to choose a specific bank.

The token in Ding Huan's hand stated: 170,000 purple gold coins.

This made Ding Huan sneer at Tou Jie.

After years of flaunting power in the Star Square, she'd amassed only this much.

He wondered if materials here were expensive—if so, he'd need to find ways to earn more money.

He turned the crystal over and over again, noticing it contained heavenly and earthly Qi.

Its Qi content was far higher than that of Qi stones, yet less than that of Zhan Shen crystals—likely a type intermediate between the two.

The crystal's size was irregular; it was certainly not a crystal coin.

He took the Qi Yuan stones, purple gold coins, and the deposit card.

Ding Huan simply blasted them with several fireballs, reducing them to ash, then punched the dust and soil into the dried-up pond.

……

Sister Tou had some reputation on the Four-Directional Star Continent.

When she first bought Ding Huan's warship and realized she'd been cheated, she flew into a rage at the Four-Directional Star Continent's Interstellar Plaza.

Everyone on the Four-Directional Star Continent's Interstellar Plaza knew about this incident.

Despite Sister Tou's furious outburst, everyone knew it wasn't really a big deal.

The outcome was that Ding Huan was killed, Sister Tou returned with her ten thousand purple gold coins, and she even gained a broken spaceship for free.

But a few days later, people noticed something was off—Sister Tou vanished after going to find Ding Huan and never returned.

Sister Tou's disappearance meant nothing to anyone, except that someone passed the news back to the Zuo Family.

Only a very few who knew both Kan Ni and Sister Tou had vanished sensed that Ding Huan might be terrifying.

It was simply too coincidental: both Kan Ni and Sister Tou disappeared while searching for Ding Huan.

Ding Huan had already purchased a pile of materials at the Small Star Corner Market; this time, he only made minor changes to his appearance.

He cut off his long hair and glued on a beard.

As for long hair, masks, and sunglasses, they were useless.

Unless someone was watching him like Sister Tou, no one would notice this newcomer.

The materials here weren't cheap, since the Four-Directional Star Continent was small, and most materials were shipped over by spacecraft from neighboring star continents.

Various ores, ferocious beast hides and bones, fresh ferocious beast blood.

Ding Huan could craft Level One talismans aboard the Blue Star, but the materials aboard were far too scarce.

Aside from ferocious beast hides, there were only some expired ferocious beast blood.

Ferocious beast blood stored in a Numinous Space could remain preserved for a long time, but gradually lost its spiritual essence.

Talismans required the material's spiritual essence to be as clear as possible to produce high-grade results.

Small Star Corner was different—all materials were utterly fresh.

Originally, it had taken Ding Huan a year to craft a Level One talisman; here, he produced a Level Three talisman in just half a month.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not draw a Level Four talisman.

Ding Huan knew why: first, the materials were too low-grade; second, his talisman brush was too low-grade.

With his cultivation level and understanding of talisman Dao, he should have been capable of crafting Level Four talismans.

His talisman brush limited his achievements in talisman Dao.

Small Star Corner had no cultivators—mostly martial artists and merchants.

The truly powerful lived in Four-Directional City; it seemed he should go there and take a look.

As Ding Huan planned his trip to Four-Directional City, the Small Star Corner Market's Enforcement Team was holding a meeting.

The meeting discussed who had killed Kan Ni.

Kan Ni's disappearance had initially drawn little attention, until one day his corpse was discovered.

In Small Star Corner, the strongest force wasn't Sister Tou—she was merely loud and brazen at the Interstellar Plaza.

The local boss here was Jin; he even held a small share in the Small Star Corner Market.

But over the past few years, Jin had gradually shifted his influence to Four-Directional City, leaving Kan Ni in charge here.

Ding Huan's killing of Kan Ni went unnoticed for a while precisely because Jin's power was in transition.

Another reason was that Jin himself wasn't in Small Star Corner—he was also in Four-Directional City.

When he returned and saw Kan Ni's corpse, his rage ignited.

Kan Ni was indeed his lackey, but to kill his lackey in Small Star Corner Market was to slap Jin's face—hard.

Even as the Enforcement Team was in session, Jin stormed in and shouted:

"Captain Di, openly killing people in Small Star Corner Market is lawless! If this continues, who will dare live here?"

In his eyes, the Enforcement Team only learned of Kan Ni's fate after his corpse was found—that too was negligence.

The Enforcement Team's captain was Li Di Ting; he was deeply annoyed by Jin's sudden intrusion.

What? Is the Enforcement Team your Jin family's personal guard, meant to watch over your people?

No matter how annoyed he was, no one had ever seen it on his face.

So instead of showing annoyance, he stood up with an apologetic expression:

"Lord Jin, this is indeed our negligence. After discovering Kan Ni's corpse, we formulated a plan and were about to execute it."

Jin's arrogance and boldness stemmed not only from being a local tyrant, but also from his official title: Lord of One Territory on the Four-Directional Star Continent.

The Four-Directional Star Continent had a Star Master, but no actual governance.

The entire Four-Directional Star Continent was divided into roughly ten thousand territories, each with a lord.

In short, Jin was a lord, yes—but he ruled a patch of land no bigger than a flea's backyard.

But this guy was vicious and ruthless, surviving solely by brute force, and had managed to thrive.

It was precisely this ruthlessness that earned him a share in Small Star Corner.

Hearing a plan had been made, Jin sat down:

"Captain Di, tell me your plan."

Li Di Ting grew even more annoyed with Jin—what business was the Enforcement Team's plan to outsiders?

He still smiled as he introduced:

"Before Kan Ni disappeared, he went with a man named Ding Huan to the ward market housing trade office to trade property."

"Kan Ni bought a house?"

Jin frowned slightly; the houses in Xiao Xingjiao were mostly fixed, and the few that could be sold were in poor condition—how could Kan Ni possibly buy a house?

He had just returned; the details were not yet clear.

"Not bought—he sold the small courtyard in Xingtan, Xiao Xingjiao, to a young man named Ding Huan, who must have just arrived on Si Xiang Star Continent."

Li Diqing explained further.

"Bold indeed," Jin snorted.

It was unclear whether he meant the buyer or Kan Ni was the bold one.

Li Diqing knew that although the house was registered under Kan Ni's name, it was effectively Jin's property.

He didn't bother to dwell on it and continued:

"After the transaction of five thousand purple gold coins was completed, both parties departed; after that, Kan Ni never appeared again."

Hearing that five thousand purple gold coins had been paid for the Xingtan house, Jin finally understood why Kan Ni had sold it.

He would have sold it for that price himself—reclaiming it afterward would be simple.

Upon learning that Kan Ni had vanished after receiving the purple gold coins, he suddenly stood up:

"So it was that newcomer who moved against Kan Ni—looking for death."

In his mind, Ding Huan must have paid Kan Ni the purple gold coins, and after Kan Ni finished the transfer procedures, Ding Huan killed him and took the coins.